California teen visiting relatives shot dead in Marin City

Sausalito
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A 17-year-old northern California boy was shot dead while visiting his parents in the Bay Area early Friday morning in what relatives are calling a case of mistaken identity.

Lavanial Williams, 17, of Weed was visiting his family at the Golden Gate public housing complex in Marin City when he was shot several times at around 12:16 a.m. Police arriving at the scene of the shooting attempted to revive the boy, but he was pronounced dead a short while later.

Investigators worked throughout the morning trying to piece together events and determine why Williams, who was not known in Marin City, was shot. Williams' older sister told CBS Bay Area that the killing was a case of mistaken identity.

"It happened for absolutely nothing... basically, somebody just got the wrong thing... got him confused. They didn't know, he's not from out here," the woman said.

Williams is at least the tenth child to be shot to death in 2013. In the last week, the following minors have died in shooting incidents:

* William Paris, 12, of Pleasant Valley, Alabama was accidentally shot by his cousin, also 12, who was showing off a shotgun he got for Christmas.

* On Tuesday, 15-year-old Brendalyz Morales was accidentally shot and killed by her older brother in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

* On Monday, Sandra Palmer, 47, and her 14-year-old son Maurice Edmonds II, were shot and killed in Greensboro, North Carolina.

* Last Sunday, 16-year-old Anna Karam, who was four months pregnant, was shot and killed in Akron, Ohio. Her friend, 19-year-old Jessica Halman, was also shot in the head but survived.

* Last Friday, Melanie Reyes of Ocala, Florida shot and killed her 6-month-old son Jonah Mendoza before turning the gun on herself. Reyes died days later.